(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (“LCD”) device and, in particular to an LCD device using a light emitting diode (“LED”) as a light source.
(b) Description of the Related Art
An LCD device is a thin flat display device which presents an image by adjusting the light transmissivity of liquid crystal interposed between a thin film transistor substrate and a color filter substrate. The thin film transistor substrate and the color filter substrate have respective electrodes opposing to each other. The light transmissivity of the liquid crystal is controlled by an electric field generated by a voltage applied to the electrodes.
The LCD device includes an LCD panel presenting the image, a driving unit driving the LCD panel, and a backlight unit supplying light to the liquid crystal panel. The backlight unit may be implemented with a cylindrical line light source lamp such as a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (“CCFL”) or an external electrode fluorescent lamp (“EEFL”). However, since the cylindrical line light source lamps require a light guide plate and a reflection plate for spreading light, it is difficult to make the LCD device slim and compact.
In order to solve this problem, an LED light source which has a thin thickness and consumes low power has been introduced for use as the backlight unit of the LCD device. In the LCD device using the LED light source, a flexible printed circuit (“FPC”) film onto which the LED is mounted is attached to a bottom case of the LCD device by means of double sided adhesive tape.
However, the conventional LED-based LCD device has a drawback in that an adhesion process of the FPC film adds a high degree of difficulty since the FPC film should be evenly attached to the inner surface of the bottom case.
Also, the conventional LED-based LCD device is disadvantageous in that an additional FPC film should be used for electrical connection.
Furthermore, the conventional LED-based LCD device uses a mold frame provided between the LED and the light guide plate to prevent a hot spot from being generated. However, use of the mold frame causes difficulty in securing a sufficient distance between the LED and the light guide plate.